Some elements of Spanish terminology in foreign language learning

The Spanish language, which has been established with the common consciousness of society
from unknown ages until today, unfortunately had to transfer the first scientific grammatical
studies from other languages as well.
Grammatical terms obtained through translation and transferred to Spanish by the method of
grammatical translation naturally needed special terms and designations. This field, which has
not yet created its own tradition, has begun to use in Spanish the terms used by other languages
for themselves. The linguists failed to decide on the terms they would choose and entered
different segments thus creating a great disagreement about the special terms and specifications
that should be used in relation to this field.
Despite this, the future of terminology is still on its way and it seems that it is mainly focused
on facilitating communication between specialists of a subject in the same or several languages
and solving any problems related to specialized communication. The subject of teaching Spanish
to foreigners has brought the problem to another dimension and has come to require a new
approach and initiative.
Keywords: terms, grammatical terms, Spanish grammar, Spanish for foreigners.

Introduction

The studies that are done on a specialized language have increased interest and gained great
importance during the last years, this of course also in the framework of applied language. We
are currently witnessing a reevaluation of terms, whether linguistic, cultural or for specific
purposes in foreign language methods. The change and transformation that Spanish is going
through, this global language, which we can truly say how in demand it is, but on the other hand,
how complicated it becomes during one lesson. And this paradox happens with every language in
the world and this situation, which is reflected in different textbooks, makes students perceive
Spanish in undefined terms and consequently they experience dilemmas and confusion when
they encounter other sources.
We are often faced with a big dilemma regarding the choice of grammatical terms that should be
used in teaching Spanish as a foreign language, a problem that is reflected internationally, both
for foreign and Albanian students. This is because the terminological unification has not yet been
resolved in the language itself that we are examining and unfortunately the theoretical and
practical contradictions are numerous in the teaching of Spanish as a foreign language. So, in
other words, the student needs a longer time, trying to find other terminological explanations
from the defined terms. It is necessary to recognize and reflect on the characteristics of female
students and the different situations that can be created in the classroom when different sources
are presented to the latter, in an independent form and without any language orientation.
 Pérez S, I, La terminología: definición, funciones y aplicaciones, fq 24
https://rua.ua.es/dspace/bitstream/10045/12770/8/La_terminolog%C3%ADa.pdf
The purpose of this research is to contribute to the selection of correct and principled terms in the
teaching of Spanish for foreigners by drawing attention to the term problems mentioned. The
reasons for not meeting in common terms, the reflection of this in the method books, the rate of
international students affected by this situation are discussed.

Theoretical background
Language can be studied from two perspectives: by use or by structure. Language structure is
about linguistics. Each language movement or school proposes different approaches to usage and
structure. Those who focus on written communication study the structure of the text - that is,
how words and sentences should fit together as a coherent whole, where the greatest concern
arises in the ability to accurately translate grammatical terms. Consequently, the lack for many
decades of a reflection on the coherence of the theory and its applications is explained by the
very characteristics of the origin of the terminological theory. Citation required: Indeed, the first
activities related to the standardization of terminology arose from the need of scientists to create
univocal forms of communication for their uses. Grammatical terms obtained through translation
and transferred to Spanish by the method of grammatical translation naturally need special terms
and designations. This field, which has not yet formed its own tradition, has begun to use terms
used by other languages such as English or French.
In recent years, the process of the internationalization of Spanish and the subject of teaching
Spanish to foreigners have highlighted various problems, presenting them in another dimension,
but also requiring a new approach and initiative to give it a immediate solution to this linguistic
impasse. International students, who have encountered books with manuals and different terms,
have stated that this situation, which reduces the speed of learning, causes problems even in the
later stages of language learning.

Method
In this research, the choice of terms in Spanish foreign language textbooks is discussed and the
perception problems it causes and its effects on students are explained with examples. The
“Spanishization” of grammatical terms was discussed, the different approaches of linguists, the
reflection of this situation in books and studies, the reasons why or what could happen were
investigated.
Before we begin to review and compare the terms used and selected from commonly used
textbooks, we would like to present in the following charts all the basic grammar terms
encountered. What we want to share with the readers does not reflect our intention to censor the
quality of the textbooks or to question the competence of their authors, but rather only to draw
attention to the multiformity of the terms that the professor uses in front of his student.
 TERMINOLOGY IN LATIN AND SPANISH
TRADITIONAL WESTERN CONTEMPORARY
Grammatĭcus GRAMMAR Gramática
Syntaxis SYNTAX Sintaxis
Nomen NOUN Nombre
Adiectīvus ADJECTIVE Adjetivo
Adverbĭum ADVERB Adverbio
Praepositĭo PREPOSITION Preposición
Verbum VERB Verbo
Pronōmen PRONOUN Pronombre
Articulāris ARTICLE Articulo
Gerundium. GERUND Gerundio
Participium. PARTICIPLE Participio
Littĕra. LETTER Letra
Syllăba, SYLLABE Sílaba
Orthographĭa, ORTHOGRAPHIE Ortografia
Demonstratīvus. DEMONSTRATIVE Demostrativo
Indicatīvus. INDICATIVE Indicativo
Imperatīvus. IMPERATIVE Imperativo
Verbālis. VERBAL Verbal
Phrasis PHRASE Frase
Possessīvus. POSSESSIVE Posesivo
Coniunctio CONJUNCTION Conjunción
Parabŏla WORD Palabra
Persōna PERSON Persona
Conditionālis CONDITIONAL Condicional
Dialectus DIALECTE Dialecto
Obiectus. OBJECT Objeto
Subiectus. SUBJECT Subjeto
Diction DICTION Söyleyiş
- WORD GROUP Sintagma 1
Coniugatio CONJUGAISON Conjugación
Infinitīvus. INFINITIVE Infinitivo
Praesens PRESENT Presente
- PAST Pasado2
1
Termi Word Group ne gjuhen spanjolle identifikohet si me poshte : categorías complejas (sí pueden subdividirse en
unidades menores, pero con una estructura determinada) De sintagmas (Mi prima sabe tocar el piano y el violín))
De oraciones (Mi prima aporrea el piano y mi hermano toca el violín) .
Marre nga: Apuntes de morfología y sintaxis simple, Departamento de Lengua castellana y Literatura. Morfología
y Sintaxis. IES La Fuensanta. fq 28 https://www.juntadeandalucia.es/averroes/centros-tic/14007374/helvia/sitio/
upload/MORFOLOGIASINTAXIS.pdf
2
pasado, da – proviene del participio: de pasar. Ne latinishten vulgare perkthehet *passāre.
Marre nga : Real Academia Española, Diccionario de la lengua española, Edición del Tricentenario, Actualización
 Futūrus. FUTURE Futuro
Conditionālis. CONDITONAL Condicional

There are several issues to consider when preparing textbooks or describing topics in Spanish for
foreigners. One of these topics is the terms used in school/academic textbooks for teaching
Spanish to foreigners. There seems to be more than one term in Spanish that fills the same
grammatical subject. This situation causes confusion in foreign language teaching.
The study aims to identify the terms used for the same subject in the four groups defined by the
groups of books prepared for teaching Spanish to foreigners. "Document analysis" was used by
the qualitative research models in the study.
As a result, it was found that different terms belonging to the same topic are used in the groups
of books studied. It can be assumed that this situation can be a problem for those Albanian or
international students who learn Spanish as a foreign language.
Terms are specific words for different scientific and technical fields, they form the axis of the
discourse plane in the branches they belong to. The discursive form of the fields of expertise
arises primarily in a structure composed of terms. The lexical structures of the language do not
consist of autonomous areas with a certain degree of detachment, like the lexical structures of the
language. Therefore, they are more affected by innovations. Considering the speed of
innovations in the contemporary period, the reason and significance of the term explosion that
developed in parallel with this is better understood.
While words in everyday life can be very meaningful using different meanings, terms are
generally one-sided. Being univocal is a property of terms. There is no emotional appearance and
expressive function in terms. However, some terms are very meaningful. Polysemy of terms can
cause misunderstandings. To avoid confusion, care is always taken to keep the terms one-sided.
The individual learns his native language by himself in his natural environment. Since the
individual learning a foreign language learns a language with a planned system, learning a
foreign language differs from the act of mother tongue (Büyükikiz & Çangal, 2016; Onur &
Bozkırlı, 2012). For this reason, there are issues that must be taken into account when preparing
the grammar parts of textbooks in foreign language teaching or when explaining grammar. One
of these topics is the terms used in textbooks for teaching Spanish to foreigners. Spanish
grammatical nouns vary. There seems to be more than one term in Spanish that covers the same
grammatical topic.
The rules of Spanish are quite complex even when taught to native speakers. It is inevitable that
foreigners learning Spanish will experience this problem more than native Spaniards.
Grammar teaching relies on the basic skills of understanding, listening, writing and speaking. In
this way, written and spoken expression becomes more effective with grammar. There are many

2022 , Asosiación de Academias de la Lengua Española https://dle.rae.es/pasado?m=form2

theories and models in sentence construction. Understanding and explaining the rules is essential
rather than the memorization method in grammar. There are many goals in language learning.
One of them is the acquisition of grammar. To achieve this goal, there should be no confusion of
the term LI in grammar.

Conclusions
A student who starts learning Spanish in any learning center will encounter problems due to the
lack of terminology. A student who wants to study Spanish from different sources will have the
same problem and will not be able to easily find the subject they are looking for. Since the
student knows the subject by the name of the term he has learned before, he may feel that he
does not know the subject when he encounters another term that is related to it. This can cause a
decrease in motivation but also a reluctance to continue learning this language. For the student,
the solution to this problem can be memorizing the synonyms of the terms. This situation can be
perceived as an additional burden for the student and create a negative judgment towards
Spanish. Moreover, memorization is not a learning method that ensures the stability of
information.
To prevent these, it is necessary to ensure long-term unity. Thus, it is thought that it can facilitate
the learning process of the student. When we look at the textbooks for teaching English for
foreigners, it is seen that the term unity is offered to a large extent. In teaching Spanish for
foreigners, different terms with the same meaning are used in grammar subjects, which leads to
confusion for them by they are left with gaps from the beginning of learning this language from
level A1 onwards.
In our research we used content analysis, one of the qualitative research designs. Content
analysis is defined as the measurement, comparison and classification of certain concepts in
verbal or written data.

REFERENCES

Wan, 2005;
Raymond, 2004;
Swan, & Walter, 2011;
Koenig, id., 2019